FAIRVIEW, N.C. (AP) — The ancient art of cheese-making forces Jennifer Perkins to meet the challenges of both agriculture and running a small business.

"I always wanted to be involved in agriculture, and I started out when my husband was doing an internship in Richmond," Perkins said. "So, I thought, 'I didn't want to do horses, cows were too big, I didn't want to do meat and I don't have a green thumb, so that whittles it down to dairy.'"

Perkins started Looking Glass Creamery with her husband Andy in 2009. The farm specializes in small-batch handmade cheese from both goat and cow milk and employs one full-time and one part-time worker.

The creamery is not a farmstead operation, but instead buys its milk from local, family-owned goat and cow dairies. As the first non-farmstead creamery in western North Carolina, Perkins said starting the operation was challenging initially, but it eventually became successful.

"We've gotten to a point where we're almost at capacity with our current facility in terms of what we can produce," Perkins said. "We've had no problems selling our cheese, and we've had interest from all over the country."

Perkins said she hopes to expand the operation in the future, noting that the model also helps keep local dairy and goat farmers in business.

After transporting the milk to the production barn, workers test it for pH, temperature and antibiotic residue before transferring it to the pasteurizing vat. After heating the milk and adding cultures, the product is left to cool for about 30 minutes. The curd is then cut, placed into molds and usually left to ripen in refrigeration for various amounts of time before it is ready for consumption.

The Perkins settled permanently in the Asheville area in 2001.

"We got married in 1993, and for our honeymoon that spring, we hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Virginia, and then some hiking in the White Mountains of Vermont," Perkins said. "We came into Asheville then, in '94, and just really loved it."

Perkins said the family was fortunate enough to secure property in the Fairview farming community.

"There are a lot of supportive people here, like Hickory Nut and Highlander Farm," Perkins said. "They've been really helpful getting us up and running."

Perkins gained experience for the creamery through several internships and farming classes, including some from N.C. State University.

Cheese from the creamery is sold in several local grocery stores, including Earth Fare and Greenlife, and utilized by many area restaurants. The creamery also recently finished a contract with the Williams-Sonoma catalog, a national home furnishings and cookware retailer.

"We were in their catalog and online sales from February to June of this year, and that was very beneficial for us," Perkins said.

Jason Roy, chef at Lexington Avenue Brewery, said his restaurant uses several cheeses from Looking Glass.

"We use predominantly their cheese in our restaurant for our cheese plate," Roy said. "We use those products in a lot of other different applications on the menu as well."

Looking Glass cheeses were featured in the first annual Atlanta Food and Wine Festival, a two-day event that included a panel discussion and a tasting seminar. The farm is also participating in a video project by the Purple States production company.

"Our latest video project is to have WNC farmers tell their own stories over the course of one growing season," said John Kennedy, executive producer of the film company.

In addition to local farms, the company is working with the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and Slow Food Asheville.

Perkins said the joys of cheese-making kept her coming back to the profession.

"It's physical labor, which I've always enjoyed, but you also have the artisan aspects, where you can create something unique, and the process of cheese-making is amazing," Perkins said. "You have this relatively simple milk, and with small changes in procedure, it can be made into everything from Parmesan to brie."